Feeler-motion for looms.



H. A. OWEN. PEBLEB. MOTION FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1914.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1..

LU-z tneases w 0. UM

H. A. OWEN.

FEELER MOTION FOR LOOMS.

APPLIOATIONFILED SEPT. 1, 1914.

Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' H. A. OWEN.

FEBLER MOTION FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1914.

Patented Fen-2, 1915.

r m. w w W WM JOE w .m Q K70? Z 0 7 fjw m f L i w H. A. OWEN. FEELER MOTION FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT 1, 1914 Patented Feb. 2, 1915 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

[raven [07" mma QM mparatively slight curvature.

, tol'the' predetermined extent preferably is I I the tip or feeling end of the feeler-member to travel inan outwardly-convex arc of The 'lat- =;-eral displacement of the feeler-member' lengthwiseof theshuttle by the contact- 1 pressure when the supply of weft or filling v"contained withinlthe shuttle is exhausted provided'for, as in the drawings, by mount- "ing the feeler-member upon a vertical pivot ."13' in connection with the feeler-" carrier 8. so "that it may. swing transversely in a horizontal-plane, and by offsetting-its tip or weft-engaging portion 1" laterally with respect to the pivot 13 so that theforwardly-directed push of the fillingmass may take'efiectj upon the feeler-member at one side of-the pivot, with a tendency to swing the feeler-inem'ber around the fpivot.

Provision is madefor keeping the celermember yieldingly in its normal position upon the feeler-carrier. A convenient means for the purpose is the contracting spiral I springl having one end thereof engaged with the feeler-member and the other with an outstanding projection 8 from the feelercarrier. This sprin acts with a tendency 0 to keep the forward y-extending branch or arm 15 ofvthe feeler-member against a stop-- pin 164risingfrom the feeler-carrier'as in Fig. 1. This stop-pin determines the normal position of the feeler-member upon the feelercarrier. The extent of the movement of lateral displacement of the feeler-member is defined" by a second stop-pin 17, rising from the feeler-carrier atthe other side of the branch or arm 15. 5 The tip or engaging portion of the ,feelermember-is wedge-shaped, with a blunt edge for contact with the wound massof weft or filling contained Within the shuttle 6. It is given the said shape in order that when the said'edge contacts with amass of weft or filling of any thickness it may engage with the exterior of such mass so as tobe held from lateral movement, and that when the said mass has become slibstantially ex hausted the tip or feeling portion may enter at times between the coils or turns and 4 make contact with-the surface of the weftcarricr upon which the weft or filling is wound. 3 When, as in. the dr'awings,'theshuttle-oe cupies the shuttle-box. at the side of the loom at which the feeler is located, and the v lay moves forward from its position in Figs. 1 and 2 to that in Figs. 3 and 4, so as to carry the shuttle toward the feeler and so that the feeler mcmlver enters slot 5 in the front shuttle-wall, the

exterior of the wound mass of weft or filling contained in the shuttle will press I against the tip or engaging portion of the feelr-member as in Figs-3 and 4. The push of the said mass, in consequence of taking effect against the "feeler-member at one side of the pivot 13 connecting it with the carrier 1, will tend to cause. thefee'ler-mcmber to 8G swing or swivel around thefsaicl pivot as just mentioned. The tendency of the feelermember to swing or swivel around the said pivot will be opposed by the tension of the spring 14, which however is light and con 9 sequently offers only a slight resistance to it the swinging or swiveling of the feeler member, and by the engagement of the tip or engaging portion of the feeler-member with the exterior of the wound mass. The combined resistance will. prevent the feelermember from swinging or swiveling around the said pivot 13. The push applied to g the feele'r-member by the wound mass of weft or filling will-take efi'ectv in swinging the carrier-arm or carrier forwz'trd by over- 'coming the resistance offered by the spring 11*, with the feelebmember in its relative position shown in Figs. 1 and .3-gppon the carrier. H I havevreferred herein to an actuator that iscontrolled'as to its operation through the lateral placement of the feeler-memher, and

to a controller thatis actuated by the nor mally-directed strokeof the operatively' dis 1-05 posed actuator The'se may be variously combined and arranged, andthe invention is not necessarily -.restr1ct ed with reference to the precise construction, arrangement, and manner in which they-are combined. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the construction and arrangement are such. that as the feeler-member in its normal. position. upon the feeler-carrier is being carried for- Ward the forwardly-extending arm 15 in 1 5 connection withzthe-feeler-member will clear or miss the adjacentend of a'lever 18 that-is mounted upon bracket 10 and pivoted thereto at .19',,-and consequently the position of the lever 18 will not be affected. Lever 18 12 constitutes: in the present instance the so-l called controller. Itgisarranged to. control the latch 20 in connection with the media nism for bringing about-the predetermined change in the operation of the loom. The I forwardl .-extending arm 15 that is combinecl wit the feeler-member constitutes the actuatorg for the said-controller. The actua'tor is formed integral with the feelermember in this instanceas a matter of con- 13C veren consi 'uctiem B; is, es will be sees, soul/rolled as to'iis .ggei'el'en il emugli ll e leigeiiz zl placement cf flee leeler-xneinl er. The normal positicn of the cent tollegelever 18 with itsouier a n rear earl, ehis peek 'ticn being given to the sel lever tlil'cugh the eoiipemtion e35 connecting spiral spring 21 which is ecnnectecl with the inner sen; of the lever, and stop-pin 22 rising "free; braclgel: 10, ageins; which stoppin llllG spring 21 tends tc held the lever pressed,

T, leech Z9 is pivetally meuntell. upon 21 link or extension 2% extending rearwind from the arm mounte l. upcn she ueual breast-beam mclcshafl; (not shown), ilie latch and said gum cpemtivel combined in practice with automatic Weftrepleni ning mechanism or ether mechanism for bringing alocut a pred elermineil change in the opeiinl-ion of lie loom. The latch is fOI'D'lQ-(l the mzdersigle 01 its resuend with a much vor shculderQG Fi 1*, clesignerl i be engaged by a striker 26 consti cubed by a lateral gu'ojeebicn from the Weft-hammer lever in the present ccnetruction the latch is slightly .elerweiglited at the 'Ercnt of its pi've 23 so chat nerrnelly the latch 00 cupiee the lmrizcnial pcsiticn in which it shown Figs. 1 2 ga 4, will: its lightest Iiili' enc in contact with she in side 0f crintmlleii 18 and its well: in el :iulcler eleeel gliuove the pe ili in which he lop Elitlll'fil ineves.

a ll

530 as file the wcunzl. mass cl wcftcifilling which is presenlzed. to the tip or eugugingpm'eicn cf the leeler-memlaer contains a suliicienl; tile acuicn as already described; namely, the iemlency cf the push applied by the t0 the said tip or engaging portion of the feelermember to displace the tip or engaging p01- ticn transversely eutwnnl in the directien of the length of the shuttle prevented by 5, hold cf the ccn'ipei'atively firm Weft c1 filling upcn the tip or engaging iecrtion from thus clisplacing the feeler-member. Con sequently, the actuator misses 01' clears the centi'clier in each rl crua (l stzclie cf the feel and actuator, this being zepresculecl in l 3, Sheet 3. l'l lien, howeveig the sup ply Weft c1 filling within the'slml-tlc depletell to permit tip er aging pcrticn of the l eeler -member ie conlziel with the surface of the bobbin We: stiller filling-carrier will in ehe slu'lltle e clllli'erent ecticn takes place. push of said surface -gainst the said tip or engeging pcrtionwill 1 (1e Acct the lllllllfil later-- ally oulweml, so that {he fceler-member will be swung e1 swivelecl ug mn its pivee 1e into the pesifmcn shown in Fig. 5, :fiueet l thereby placing the aceuetm' in line Willi the euer eml cf the controller 18 me as feels-remember and its carrier 8 mevenl fessaer i-lyle ecaueter will eel; against we ces 'neller 'w c e same. The inner end;

of lite emptr el 3.. ll lliecseloy be inciieel rearward so lz-halg it will act upon the camsheped pea-lien 20 of dle e ch 20 encl press 7'0 down the rear end 01" the latter so as $9 swing its iieoil or shoulder 20 into the path ef 5:16 striker 2&3, "j be slriker by engage mem with the leech or shoulder as in Fig. 6, Sheet will iuensmif; RTQOVGHLQIll/LG the arm 7.} 2e thereby inclicaee or call the change in lie operation vc the 10cm. To obviate the necessity for in ling the wellt'hemmer with its sli'ikegto eels in close accord with the beeeup of .llllfi lay, I so proportion the weigli te of lhe perilous 0f the latch 20 at front and rear, :(espeetively of pivot 23 that uflzez: the latch is tilted recovery will be sluggish or slow, thus proviling that the lzcopti er sllculcler 20 shall remain clown in 55 the w th 0'; the srilce'r lcng enough to afford p're per opportunity for the striker to engage with the said teeth 01' shoulder.

It is intended in the case of the particular feeler-meinber shown in the drawings that; e0 when the weund well or filling upon the kernel 0:5 the bobbin at the point where the tip or feeling pez'ticn of the feeler-member is reduced 0 a single layer, in

the said lie or feeling portion shall Fig.

. n -blie coils cs turns and make ccnncia the surface of the bobbin unde'c ifiliem. lenclency of the pressurec'i SWn'l surf against the tip or feeling pcen e the latter 1;. rally cub 10;)

es the tip 01? leeling por- Wei-(l Wu lien cc ii-e 1e oi the said ecils 01' turns outwmrcl as in Fig 5 making an opening be tween them. In case elle first eonfiecc of the said surface with the tip 01' feeling poi-Lion 195 should not operate to displace the feeler member 'tlie spreading apart of the coils or turns Will facilitate the further displacement of th feelenmember, so that on the seccncl or third contact the actual-0r will be 3.1% brought into cperatien. So long as there are i at least two cross-Wound overlying layers of coils turns at the place Wliere the feelfili'lliiifllllfil engages with the Wound weft or filling, fic crossing" cf the Wind. of one l of aneinliei: will bind the coils or t W ether l lmt the lzi'eml displacemeutef em i eele wmember will be prevented. "1615, ccnstrue'ted shown in the draw ngs, the feeleu levi seldom if ever 12% net heifer-c the Wound Weft or filling has been ye ucecl .10 a single layciz lZn.v consequence of the fccler-member being mounted upon the lwi'izeiitelly swinging carrier 1 so the in) or engaging portion thereof shall gr'evel l ciwzuwl in an outwardly convex are the said tip 0: feeling portion has aecn'ncunzl m. comninecl forward and one- Wei zncvezne The effec-u of this is e tendeney in cause iis end or edge lac dig) 01' 139 pick under the coils or turns of yarn next outward beyond the same, so as the more effectually to engage with such coils or turns. This has the double effect of holding the 'feeler-member with greater certainty from premature lateral displacement outward, and of facilitating the separating of vthe coils or turns after theweft or filling has become reduced to a single layer.

The two levers 8 and 18 are approximately parallel, and swing in unison and substantially iniparallelism when the actuator is engaged with the controller 18. The action is,'therefore, smooth and easy; In virtue of mounting the feeler-member upon a swing ing carrier, there is no tendency to cramping of such carrier in its movements. Ihe 'actlon'is better than would be the case. if 1t were mounted upon a slide-bar or rod moving in a straight guideway or ways, for the pressure of the forwardly-moving wound mass of weft or filling in the latter instance would tend to cause such slide-bar or rod to erampin'the'said guideway or ways I contemplate employing theslide-bar or rod in some cases, however.

Various changes and modifications in a ddition to those mentioned herein may be made in the construction and arrangement of-the parts.

v The lateral offsetting of the tip or feeling portion of the feeler-member is toward the side of the pivot 13 at which the head or i base, of the filling-carrier in the shuttle is located, in order that the tendency to lateral displacement of the feeler-member may manifest itself in the direction,jtoward the said head or base. The reason for this is that since the weft or filling iswound first in layers of short length at and near the head or base of the filling-carrier there isless tendency to premature displacement of the coils or turns of the first or innermost layer in the said direction when such layers are exposed to being engaged bythe tip of the shuttle results in a failure of the actuat0r' ?f0 operatethe controller to withdraw the latch from the path'of theestriker.

, I claim as my invention directly meetingithe supply of weft or filling contained in the shuttle and displaced lon- 'gitudinally' of; the shuttle by the contact- 3 pressurewhen said supply is exhausted to 5 {the predetermined" an actuator oppush of the wound mass of weft or filling contained in the working shuttle and is tained in the working shuttle, held by a-sufi i said direct push, and displaced-,longitudicontact-member when the latteris oper atively disposed, a f '1 jLoom-feeler devicescomprising a feeler 1 shuttle and displaced longitudinally of the shuttle by the contact-pressure when said supply is exhausted to the predetermined extent, a feeler-carrier'moved through the saidpush, a controller, and means for latching the controller to the carrier through'such displacement of the feeler-member and '80 thereby actuating the controller through the normally-directed movement of the carrier.

3. A feeler-motion for-looms comprising i a feeler-member that receives directly the contained in the working shuttle and is moved forward thereby, and that is dis placed longitudinally of the shuttle by forward pressure against it when the wound mass is substantially exhausted, an actuator that is controlled as to its operation through the lateral placement of the said feeler-member, and acontroller that is actu- 1 ated by the normally-directed movementof' the operatively-disposed actuator.

l. A feeler-motion for looms comprising a feeler-member that receives directly the push of the wound mass of weft 0r filling moved forward thereby, and that is displaced longitudinally of-the' shuttle" by the pressure of contact with a surface within the wound mass when given access'to'such' 'surface by the paying-out of the weft or filling, an actuator that is controlled as to its operation through the said lateral placement of said feeler-member, and a controller that-is l actuated by the normally-directed move-'- a l ment of the operatively disposed actuator,

5. A feeler-motio-n for looms comprising a contact-member receiving directly the push I of the wound mass of weft or filling conficiency of such-mass for weaving purposes against lateral displacement through the nally of the shuttle by the said push when the wound mass is substantially exhausted, a, carrier for contact-member, moved forward the push; against .themthttpt; member, and a controller actuated through I the forward movement of the carrier and J said push, and displaced longitudinally of the shuttle by the pressure of a surface within the wound mass when given access to such surface bythe substantial exhaustion ofsaid mass, a carrier for said contact-member, moved forward by the push against the contact-member, and a controller actuated through the forward movement of the carrier and contact-member when the said member is operatively disposed- 7. A feeler-motion for looms comprising a feelermember arranged for ,displacement lengthwise of the shuttle in addition to movement forward in unison with the lay,

and restrained from such displacement through the pressure thereagainst of a plurality of overlying layers of the wound mass -of weft or fillingcontained in the working shuttle, and which penetrates between the coils when a single layer remains and is displaced longitudinally of the shuttle through contact with a surface under the said layer.

8. A feeler-motion for looms comprising a feeler-member arranged for movement forward in unison with the lay, having in addition a normal movement longitudinally of the shuttle tending to spread slightly apart the coils of the wound mass of weft or filling between which its engaging portion is entered, and arranged for further displacement lengthwise of the shuttle by the pressure of a surface within the wound supply of weft or filling when such supply is substantially exhausted.

9. A 'feeler-motion for looms comprising a feeler-member and an actuator operatively combined, a carrier for said parts mounted to swing around a pivot, and a controller adapted to be actuated by the said actuator, also mounted to swing around a pivot substantially in parallelism with said carrier.

10.- A feeler-motion for looms comprising a horizontally-arranged carrier-arm or lever, a combined feeler-rhember and actuator movably mounted; upon said carrierarm. or lever, \said feel'er-member receiving the direct push of the 'wound mass of weft or filling contained in the working shuttle,

whereby the carrier-arm or leverand connected parts, are moved forward, and said feeler-member adapted to be displaced lon- 'gitudinally of the shuttle by the forward pressure when the said mass'is substantially exhausted, whereby the actuator is operatively positioned, and a controller actuated by the forward movement of the operatively positioned actuator, said controller constituted by a horizontally-swinging' arm or lever substantially parallel with the carrierarm or lever.

11. A feeler-motion for looms comprising a feelermember having a tip or feeling portion with single pro ection that receives directly the push of the wound mass of weft or filling contained in the working shuttle to move the feeler-member forward.

said feeler-member constructed to be dis placed longitudinally of the shuttle by the forward pressureagainst the V-edge when the wound mass is substantially exhausted.

. 13. A feeler-motion for looms comprising a feeler melnber having a tip or feeling end shaped to penetrate between the last coils or turns of weft or' filling contained in the shuttle, said feeler-member arranged to be moved forward bodily by the push of the wound mass of said weft or filling against said tip or feeling end and to be displaced longitudinally of the shuttle by or filling is substantially spent, and a support for said feeler-member mounted to cause the displaced Y projection to pick under the adjacent coils or turns.

' 14. A feeler-motion for looms comprising a feeler-member having'a tip or feeling end shaped to penetrate between thelast coils or turns of weft or'filling contained in the shuttle, said feeler-member arranged to be moved forward bodily by the push of the wound mass of weft or filling against the tip or feeling end and to be displaced longitudinally of the shuttle by the forward pressure of a surface within the wound weft or filling when the latter is substantially, spent, and a supportingarm or lever'sw nging around a center located to produce travel of the said tip or feeling end 1n a fiat are which will cause it to. pick under the adjacent coils or turns.

In testimony whereof I, afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY A. OWEN. Witnesses:

OscAn L. OWEN, E. KENT SWIFT.

the forward pressure when the wound weft 

